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I remember in the 1980s Branson flew almost entirely across the Atlantic by balloon only to crash off the coast of Ireland. Plus the powerboats, Breitling Orbi

I remember in the 1980s Branson flew almost entirely across the Atlantic by balloon only to crash off the coast of Ireland. Plus the powerboats, Breitling Orbiter and most bravely I think: appearing in drag to promote his wedding business.

tailspin2019 5y ago
> appearing in drag to promote his wedding business. Even he now admits that "Virgin Brides" (actual name) wasn't his strongest idea :-D
- LeonM 5y ago
  I remember Brandson talking about this in a podcast (I believe it was 'how I built this', not sure though), he said it was his worst idea but the best name he ever had given to one of his companies. I must agree with that one!
  - stevep98 5y ago
    He was talking in a press conference after Virgin Brides was already closed down. The journalist asked him why it failed, and he said “no customers”, which was pretty funny.
  - jfengel 5y ago
    Thinking that was a good name is yet another terrible idea. It's going to put off a ton of potential customers, who will find it offensive. It sounds like he thought it would be funny, and was willing to throw a few million dollars at trolling. Not hard for somebody who can throw more tens of millions at a joyride in a rocket.
snypher 5y ago
What a bizarre place where it's braver for a man to wear a dress, than to actually crash a balloon into the sea.
- gorgoiler 5y ago
  We can fear machines and technology but we can master them, at least enough to be confident they will survive the Atlantic weather. The balloon broke on take off and yet Branson and Lindstrand believed in their journey because they believed in their tech. It then became a matter of finishing it off without anything else going wrong. At the other end of the spectrum is the anxiety about what other people think and say about us and how well we will do when faced with a challenge or change we brought on ourselves, especially when we really stick our necks out on something completely new. HN is full of people who are maestras and maestros of technology who are sticking their necks out in the capricious people-centric world of business. It’s a site built for entrepreneurs even if the majority of us visitors (myself included) are tech janitors. And in terms of the transformation the most surprising part, I think, wasn’t the dress. It was the lipstick.

tailspin2019 5y ago

> appearing in drag to promote his wedding business. Even he now admits that "Virgin Brides" (actual name) wasn't his strongest idea :-D

LeonM 5y ago
I remember Brandson talking about this in a podcast (I believe it was 'how I built this', not sure though), he said it was his worst idea but the best name he ever had given to one of his companies. I must agree with that one!
- stevep98 5y ago
  He was talking in a press conference after Virgin Brides was already closed down. The journalist asked him why it failed, and he said “no customers”, which was pretty funny.
- jfengel 5y ago
  Thinking that was a good name is yet another terrible idea. It's going to put off a ton of potential customers, who will find it offensive. It sounds like he thought it would be funny, and was willing to throw a few million dollars at trolling. Not hard for somebody who can throw more tens of millions at a joyride in a rocket.

snypher 5y ago

What a bizarre place where it's braver for a man to wear a dress, than to actually crash a balloon into the sea.

gorgoiler 5y ago
We can fear machines and technology but we can master them, at least enough to be confident they will survive the Atlantic weather. The balloon broke on take off and yet Branson and Lindstrand believed in their journey because they believed in their tech. It then became a matter of finishing it off without anything else going wrong. At the other end of the spectrum is the anxiety about what other people think and say about us and how well we will do when faced with a challenge or change we brought on ourselves, especially when we really stick our necks out on something completely new. HN is full of people who are maestras and maestros of technology who are sticking their necks out in the capricious people-centric world of business. It’s a site built for entrepreneurs even if the majority of us visitors (myself included) are tech janitors. And in terms of the transformation the most surprising part, I think, wasn’t the dress. It was the lipstick.